Perhaps Once
by Dark Celery
Summary: Things between Draco and Harry could have been different had circumstances not gotten in the way. Shonen-ai implied- RR puh-lase!


Title- 'Perhaps Once' Author- Dark Celery Rating- PG Pairing- Implied HarryxDraco  
  
Disclaimer- I do not own anything Harry Potter-esqe nor do I own magical powers though I wish I did....Waaaah! I want magic powers! Anyways, don't sure me cause all you'd get is a penny, a gum wrapper, and a safety pin.  
  
Harry held the coat closer to his body as a piercingly cold gust of wind went through to his bones. The cloudless dusk sky expanded endlessly above him as the dazzling pinks, purples, and blues darkened slowly to the black of night with its glittering decorations. Another gust of wind and the air around him was crowded with the presence of hundreds of autumn leaves clad in their finery and making a dash for freedom before floating gracefully down.  
  
There were many things to discuss, but he had the time to talk. Yes, a talk, a visit, and that was all. It would be nothing short of a friendly visit with his old enemy, old rival, and his old lover. Alright, maybe not lover, but how many times had he said to himself- 'If time had only permitted that things would have been different.'  
  
It happened in his seventh year of Hogwarts were the time was already being stressed. He, Ron, and Hermione got into yet another one of their arguments. Correction- Ron and Hermione got into another one of their arguments and somehow managed to pull in Harry. He'd never guessed that the morning after that he'd wake up to find them waiting for him with bright smiles on their youthful faces.  
  
The news was good, perhaps, depending on your point of view but how exactly do you react when your two best friends tell you that they're engaged? That you're proud of them and then ask them in good humor, of course, 'what took you so long?'  
  
The truth? Betrayed.  
  
His two friends were sharing an adventurer that he could never be a true part of. It would be like the three of them minus Harry, 'the boy who lived'.  
  
"...And the boy that wishes he died". He mumbled under his breath.  
  
That was years ago though. He'd grown from being that seventeen-year old and now he stood tall and confident at twenty-four. Trading in his glasses for contacts, he'd been able to see the world as a person was meant to and not through a thick layer of glass. It meant a lot to him in a way not many could understand.  
  
There he was, sitting alone in the library looking up the antidote for an accidental hex Neville had cast on himself. It wasn't an emergency but if he didn't hurry...well...he wasn't going to be the one cleaning up the mess. The thick old leather-bound book was laid out to the table. It was opened to the desired page when the small pot of black ink spilled all over the scroll Harry was copying the antidote onto. With his quill still raised in the air, he looked down at the ink-drenched parchment in a mix of confusion, disbelief, and shock. One look straight ahead was all it took to figure out who the culprit was.  
  
"Go away, Malfoy." He took out another scroll from the pile that was conviently placed in the middle of the table. The blond merely smirked at him.  
  
"What? No fighting words now that your friends are off getting an early start on their honeymoon?" He snickered. "By some miracle, maybe their offspring won't end up too badly deformed from all the Weasly and mudblood mixing."  
  
Ouch. "Tell me, Malfoy. Do you ever get nosebleeds from keeping your nose so high up in the air?" All right, so it wasn't the best of comebacks but he had other things on his mind. Like the antidote that was waiting to be copied.  
  
In the past years they'd both changed. In his fifth year, Draco finally gave up his hair gel (Ron suspected that it was because he finally saw himself in the mirror) and settled for a more natural appearance. However, other then growing taller, about a good four inches taller then Harry, he was pretty much the same.  
  
The real change came mostly from the drastic difference of attitude. Sure, the sarcastic, snide, insults were there but they ceased to really hurt once Harry learned that Draco was only interested in the reactions and didn't really mean them. Hermione and Ron didn't know about it. Some secrets were best kept just that. A secret.  
  
Draco laughed and took a seat opposite of his 'enemy' and leaned over the table to get a better look at what Harry was doing. "So...who's sneezing earwigs out of his nose?"  
  
"Neville."  
  
"Of course. That moron has had more antidotes used on him then should be legal. You'd think he'd be immune to everything about now." Harry just laughed.  
  
Moments, like sugar, melted away too quickly. Time passed all too quickly and the last they saw of his 'enemy' was right after graduation. A quick kiss on a flushed cheek, a heartfelt embrace, and they reluctantly parted. Everyone moved on with their lives.  
  
Hermione and Ron got married soon after and had four children and were planning on more. Neville started to volunteer at the hospital where his mother and father were kept. Harry was the teacher of Hogwart's Defense against the Dark Arts. Professor Potter. Had a nice ring to it. As for Draco, he grew up and followed in his father's footsteps. Now, he was going to see Draco for the first time since Hogwarts, the friendship, and the kiss.  
  
Standing on the curb of the street, he watched as a bus approached and skidded to a halt in front of him. The door opened and the driver's voice rang out as Harry boarded.  
  
"Where to Professor Potter?"  
  
"Azkaban." 


End file.
